Special Agent John Doggett sits at the table in Agent Scully's kitchen, open case files littering the near vicinity, but he's paying attention to other more interesting things, like Agent Monica Reyes his partner on the X-Files and long time friend. Doggett watches her confidently traversing the rooms and hallways of Scully's apartment, seemingly at home with the layout and environment, even though it is still somewhat unfamiliar to himself and he's known Scully for some time longer than Monica.
He watches the knowing way in which she reaches up into a cupboard and first go, locates what it is she is after, no hesitation or fumbled rummaging, just straight for the glass. Doggett knows that Monica and Scully are friends outside, as well as in work, they have been since they first met, which he knows deep down is very unusual for the rather reserved and closed off Scully. He also knows that Monica occasionally watches William, Scully's son when the need arises, but he was unaware that she had this level of familiarity with Scully's home.
For a moment he wonders whether it is purely down to Reyes' "gift", her almost innate connection with people, her ability to 'see' things that no matter how hard anyone else tried would never be able to see, events ahead of time, the emotional responses of others…he doubts it though, from what little understanding he has of her gift it would only explain her connection to Scully and not her ability to navigate around her house, besides, now that he has thought about the matter her actions strike him more as familiarity than anything otherworldly.
Williams cries startle him out of his introspective contemplation in time to feel Reyes' strong hand on his upper arm squeezing gently with a muttered 'I'll fetch him' only realising after he's watched her leave the room, that she spoke just before he actually heard the cry.
Doggett watches her pad gently into the child's room and scoop him up, cradling him against her as she turns to head back towards him, he realises at some point in the evening she's kicked off her boots somewhere and is now contentedly walking around a fellow Agents home in her socked feet, now cooing at the child, who remarkably calmed as soon as she picked him up and is happily burbling back at her. Oddly it's the lack of shoes that has alerted him to possible intimacies between the two women, not the familiarity in the home or with William, but the simple act of removing her shoes speaks volumes to him.
He hears Scully enter the kitchen from the next room and walk over to stand by Reyes, their backs to him purely coincidentally, though he is grateful as it means he can observe them without arousing their suspicion, he notices Scully laying a hand in the small of Reyes' back as she reaches around to stroke William's head. Doggett is struck by the intimacy of such a simple gesture, watching them unconsciously leaning in towards each other as Reyes lowers her head slightly and mutters something to Scully causing her to shrug then laugh quietly her shoulders gently shaking in response as they both move through into the nursery to return William to his crib, standing watch over him in the dark for a few moments.
Doggett is surprised by the picture the two of them make, Reyes tall, dark and lithe next to the significantly smaller, flame haired Scully, as Reyes puts a lazy arm around Scully's shoulders, her fingers resting at the nape of her neck, oblivious to the patiently waiting Doggett in the kitchen. He suddenly feels like an unwanted voyeur in a young family's home, privy to the shared intimacy of parenthood and those quiet moments they share in the dark watching over their young, like sentinels or Guardian Angels. He shakes his head at the unusually whimsical idea invading his head trying to clear the unsettling image of his ex-wife and himself doing the same over their son, overlaying what is in front of him.
He notices them turning to come back into the kitchen and he quickly feigns deep interest in the open case files in front of him, praying that his emotions aren't strong enough for Monica to pick up on, whilst keeping a subtle eye on their approach, watching Reyes' hand drop quickly to her side as the two women enter the room once more, Scully moving to sit next to him, whilst Reyes goes over to the counter, leaning up against it and shoving her hands in her pockets, raising one leg up off the ground to rest her heel against a drawer handle.
Doggett smiles to himself before he looks up, pretending to only just being aware of their presence. He knows that if there is anything to tell, they will when the time is right and not before, until then he is content to follow their lead on the matter, allowing them their right to privacy, though he may question his friend at a later date when they are alone in the basement office they share, knowing that she rarely withholds information from him.